How Do I Claim Unallocated Space?

Discussion in 'Acronis Disk Director Suite' started by bf1, Jan 30, 2007.

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  1. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    Hi

    I posted a few days back in the Acronis True Image Forum (New Disk Size Not Recognised 26th Jan 2007 12:16) as I used ATI to clone my old HD onto my new one. After the process was complete I found that my new HD was not showing its true HD capacity.

    It was subsequently identified that the cloning process created a partition the size of my old HD and the additonal space on my new HD was classed as "Unallocated".

    I want to combine this unallocated space with my exisitng partition so that I have one partition with the full capacity of my HD. I bought Acronis Disk Director in order to do this.

    Could someone please advise the process I need to go through in order to add the unallocated space to the partition on my HD?

    Thanks for your help.
     
  2. K0LO

    K0LO Registered Member

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    bf1:

    There are many ways to do this. Perhaps the easiest is to take advantage of a little "trick" in TrueImage (TI). The designers needed to include some disk management functions in order to be able to resize partitions when restoring images, so you can take advantage of this as follows:

    1. Start TI and choose to create an Acronis Secure Zone.
    2. When asked how big to make it choose to use all of the unallocated space on your drive.
    3. If asked, do not choose to activate the Acronis Startup/Recovery manager.
    4. Commit the changes.
    5. Return to TI again but this time choose to delete the Acronis Secure Zone that you just created.
    6. When asked which partition to give the space to, choose your single existing partition.
    7. Commit.

    When finished you should have one partition of the maximum size of your drive.

    You can also do this operation in DD10, but since you're already familiar with using TI perhaps the above is the easiest method for you.
     
  3. K0LO

    K0LO Registered Member

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    bf1:

    I just saw your other post on the TrueImage forum here and your picture of your current drive structure. Disregard my above post. You will need to use DD10 to fix your drive layout. Here's how you can do this:

    1. Start DD10 and choose "Manual" mode.
    2. Right-click on the partition labelled as C: and choose "Delete"
    3. Right-click on the partition labelled as I: and choose "Delete"
    4. Click on the checkered flag to commit

    After doing this, verify that you now have one partition with your data (it shows as F: in your picture) and one block of unallocated space (green). If so, continue as follows:

    5. Right-click on the data partition (F) and choose "Resize"
    6. Drag the slider on the rightmost end of the figure (your mouse cursor should change to show a || symbol) to the right until the F partition completely encloses all of the unallocated space. The numbers in the box "Unallocated space before" and "Unallocated space after" should both be "0".
    7. Click OK
    8. Click on the checkered flag to commit. Windows will probably need to reboot to finish this operation.

    When done your drive should consist of only one partition the full size of the drive.
     
  4. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    Hello KOlo

    Thanks for your reply.

    I followed your instructions and all went well until I got to resizing the HD. At the point where I was to move the F: partition to enclose all of the unallocated space the partition would not move into that area. The mouse did change to show a || symbol but it wouldn`t move the partition over.

    When I placed my mouse over the partition it changed to 4 arrows in a diamond formation which did permit me to move the partition over but the figures in the partition box merely reversed.

    Before moving the partition they read:

    Unallocated Space Before: 0 bytes
    Partition Size: 186.3GB
    Unallocated Space After: 111.8GB

    After moving the partition they read:

    Unallocated Space Before: 118.GB
    Partition Size: 186.3GB
    Unallocated Space After: 0 bytes

    Anyway I went ahead and did it, the system rebooted (on reboot a message came up saying "MFT Bitmap Corrupted") and when reboot was completed I checked my HD size and it was still the same as before!

    What do I do next? This is so frustrating.

    Appreciate your help.
     
  5. K0LO

    K0LO Registered Member

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    Could you post a current picture of your drive layout (similar to the one you posted earlier)?
     
  6. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    Hi

    Here is how my drive looks now, hope you can see it ok:

    HD1.JPG
     
  7. K0LO

    K0LO Registered Member

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    bf1:

    OK; that's progress! You now have gotten rid of the extra logical partitions and have only your main (F) partition and unallocated space at the end of the disk.

    If steps 5 - 8 in my previous post (#3) didn't work, I would then suggest trying these same steps again but this time don't do them from the Windows version of DD10. Instead, boot from the recovery version and try again without Windows getting in the way.

    To do this you need to have a standalone (bootable) rescue CD version of DD10. If you purchased the product retail and they sent you a CD, use that. If not, make one using the bootable media builder application that is installed with either TrueImage or DD10. Boot your PC from the rescue CD and choose to run the Full version of DD10. Then try steps 5 - 8 again.
     
  8. rasmond

    rasmond Registered Member

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    Sorry to borrow your thread Mark. I,ve been learning DD10 come across this forum It very good. Thank to Mark Guidiance of Resize etc Excellent
    I,ve some suggestion . Maybe I could Help & I try it now & post some picture
    Below is some Example
    [​IMG]
    Put the cursor not diamond ( it will reverse the after value unallocated to Before)

    [​IMG]

    This picture with unallocated havenot add up to D:

    [​IMG]
    Another suggestion was if you,ve difficult pulling cusor which I encountered. Used mouse highlighted the Partition size>> keyboard press delete & key in the actual size (add up Unallocated Space After: 5.002GB + 13.64GB = 18.65Gb Key this value >> Press Enter

    [​IMG]

    I hope above method able to assit you . Thank
     

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  9. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    Oh woe is me!

    I started the whole process over direct from the acronis DD10 CD. Adjusted the partition size and committed. It then started processing the request and all looked to be ok. It actually took about 5 hours to complete.

    At the end of it though, all that had happened is the position of the F: partition and the unallocated space partition changed places! Only now, my F: partition has been renamed to C:

    So, I tried it again, this time dragging the C: partition to the left and fulfilling the whole of the unallocated space.

    Clicked to Commit and off it went, only this time the whole process took just 3 minutes! All seemed ok and DD10 is showing my new HD with the full capacity.

    However, when I reboot I only get as far as the Windows XP screen and everything comes to a halt, it just won`t boot. I went back into DD10 to try and change the drive letter from C: to F: thinking that this is the problem, but it won`t allow me to do this.

    I then put back in my old HD which booted up fine and shows as F: drive. My new drive is showing as C: I then use DD10 to change my old HD from F: to P: so that I can change my new HD from C: to F: hoping this will resolve the issue.

    (Hope this making sense)

    Well, it doesn`t help and still I only get as far as the Win XP screen.

    When I boot up using DD10 the new HD which I changed from C: to F: is now back to showing as C:

    What do I do??

    Suggestion. If I put both HD`s in and boot using my old HD do you think it will help if I copy the MBR from my old HD to my new HD?

    Any help greatly appreciated.





     
  10. K0LO

    K0LO Registered Member

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    bf1:

    If your PC is booting but Windows does not start, then your MBR is OK. There is probably an incorrect reference in the file boot.ini or else one of the files needed to boot Windows is missing.

    Probably the easiest way to fix this is to get your Windows CD and boot from it. Choose to start up into the recovery console and then issue the fixboot command. Check the syntax in this article.

    If this doesn't fix the problem then also check that your boot.ini file is referencing the correct disk and partition. You can view the file by starting DD10 with the recovery disk, clicking on your Windows partition and choosing "Explore" to see the files on the disk. Browse to boot.ini and right-click on it and choose "Edit" to view the contents. A Windows installation on the first partition of the first hard disk should have a boot.ini file that looks like the following:

    Sample Boot.ini File
    This is a sample of a default Boot.ini file from a Windows XP Professional computer.
    [boot loader]
    timeout=30
    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
    [operating systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

    You can edit this file and save the changes from within DD10 in recovery mode if need be. If you see anything different from the above example then please post back here. The file contents are explained in this article.
     
  11. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    Hi

    Appreciate your help on this.

    I have checked the boot.ini file and the difference to the example you have posted is the timeout. Mine =1 your example =30

    The other difference is that I have Windows XP Home edition.

    I dont appear to have a Windows CD. I have a recovery CD which when I booted gives me the option to install Windows XP, it gives no option to issue a fixboot command. Also, the HD listed relates to my old Maxtor HD whereas I have a Seagate installed!

    Any idea what has caused this, I thought that the process of changing partition sizes was supposed to be straightforward.

    Thanks for your help
     
  12. K0LO

    K0LO Registered Member

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    Then boot.ini is not your problem. The recovery CD is the Windows CD that you want. When starting you should get the choice to either install Windows or to repair your existing Windows installation. Choose to repair. Try letting Windows figure out what to repair first; perhaps you won't have to resort to typing commands at the recovery console.

    I'm not sure what has gone wrong for you. This has been a nightmare for you, judging from your previous posts both here and on the TI forum. Repartitioning is supposed to be a rather straightforward process. I've had pretty good luck with several systems but whenever you are messing around with low-level stuff like formatting and partitioning, the possiblilty for data loss does exist. Fortunately it sounds like you have a backup disk, which is a very smart move on your part.
     
  13. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    I think Im going to have to start over again. Even when I chose to install XP it won`t allow me to do so.

    I`ll let you know if Im successful 2nd time around.

    Many thanks for you help on this.
     
  14. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    Ive managed to get my computer running again on the original HD. At one point I couldn`t get it to boot unless both HD`s were connected!

    I have started afresh with my new HD and formatted it. Using True Image I went through the manual process of cloning my old HD to my new one.

    However, no matter what I do it will not allow me to increase the partition on my new HD larger than that of my old one. I have also tried the same procedure by booting the computer with the TI disk, but it still won`t accept it.

    Im at a loss to understand why.
     
  15. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    Ive created a demo to show you the process I went through.

    Just in case Im doing something blatantly wrong.

    I went through the same process without Windows being loaded as well as with Windows loaded.

    http://imageevent.com/epics/trueimage?n=0
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 4, 2007
  16. K0LO

    K0LO Registered Member

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    bf1:

    Interesting movie! I think that I can see a problem. When you got to the part of the cloning process where you are manually repartitioning, the graphic display of your source and destination disks changed. At this step a red symbol appears in the upper left corner of the graphic for each "F" partition. I'm not sure what the symbol is but when I've seen it appear before, it was because there was some kind of a problem with the disk; usually bad blocks. TI and DD will not let you resize a partition that contains bad blocks because it could result in data loss.

    Try searching the TI FAQ documents (or this forum or the TI forum) for recommendations on how to deal with a disk containing bad blocks.
     
  17. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    I have got a bad sector on my original HD which has prevented me from backing up my data, this is the reason why I bought a new HD in case my original HD failed.

    If I manually just copy all the data from my current HD to my new HD, will the new one boot up or does TI do something to configure everything?


     
  18. K0LO

    K0LO Registered Member

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    bf1:

    OK, now I think that I understand what happened. You cloned a disk that had bad blocks to a new hard disk. The clone is OK; it does not contain any bad blocks but it does contain the marker information telling Windows that there are bad blocks (even though they aren't there). And with the bad block markers, both TrueImage and DD will not allow you to resize the partitions since that is a safety feature to prevent data loss.

    Here is a post that discusses a few ways to recover from this.

    I've never done this myself, but I think that one way to "clone" your old disk without bringing along the bad block information is:

    1. Boot your system from the old drive and use Windows to completely reformat your new drive (single primary partition). This step should remove all of the bad block markers from the new drive.
    2. Use TI to backup your old disk. Backup the entire disk contents; not files and folders. Do not use the clone function! Save the backup (.tib file) anywhere; even on the old disk. It looks like there is room for it.
    3. Then use TI to restore the backup to the new disk. Be sure to also restore Track 0 and the MBR when doing this.
    4. Shut down the PC and disconnect the old drive before rebooting. Reboot from the new drive.
    5. If the size of the new drive isn't correct, you can then use DD to fix it.
     
  19. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    Hi KOlo,

    Thanks for this.
    I will try to back up my old disk but Im not confident it work will as it has crashed each time I have tried previously.

    It always crashes on Sector 58,785,792 but I have no idea how or if this sector can be repaired. I tried running checkdisk but this only checked 30% of my HD and wouldn`t go any further.

    Its a Catch 22 situation!

    Is there a program to repair sectors?


     
  20. K0LO

    K0LO Registered Member

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    I see. If the backup does not complete, then maybe you could try the fix mentioned in the link in my last post #18. I think the theory is that your cloned drive is OK but has the bad block markers from the original disk. The freeware program mentioned is supposed to clear the bad block table from a drive that is known to be free from bad blocks (your clone).
     
  21. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    Im currently in the process of backing up my HD. I booted up with TI to see if this would be more successful then backing up with Windows loaded.

    I started the backup 4hrs ago and according to the program there is 12hrs remaining! Certainly seems to be a slower process this way round.



     
  22. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    Hi bf1,

    If TI doesn't recognise the file system or the drive is corrupt then it will default to its sector-by-sector, whole disk, imaging mode rather than just imaging the data on the in-use sectors. Hence the reason it's taking so long.

    Regards
     
  23. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    Well it got to 6hrs remaining and came to a stop! So it would seem that the bad sector on my HD is sufficient enough to stop backups and virus checks.

    I will move onto the other suggestions posted above and provie an update when done. Im now thinking about installing Vista on my new HD and just transfering the files from my current HD.

    Problem is I have a number of downloaded programs for which I have no disks to.

     
  24. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    It seems to take 1 step forward and 2 steps back!

    I managed to back-up my original HD and I did a recovery of that to my new HD. Before restarting my computer I changed the Drive Letters so that my new HD would hopefully boot up with the same config as my old HD.

    It didn`t work and now I am unable to boot up at all. I need to change my original HD`s Drive letter back to its original.

    I booted up with DD10 in order to do this but the option to change the drive letter is ghosted out. I was able to change the drive letter using DD10 under normal operating conditions but in recovery mode it won`t allow me too which is really annoying.

    Does anyone know how I can change my HD letter bearing in mind that I can`t boot up into windows xp. Is it possible to access DOS and do it this way? If so, what is the command to use?

    Incidentally, when I boot from DD10, the Drive letters displayed within the program do not relate to the actual drive letters I assigned to each HD.

    Any help gratefully received.




     
  25. bf1

    bf1 Registered Member

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    I am writing this update on my PC which is now up and running once more!

    It seems that the one thing I wasn`t doing when attempting to reinstall Win XP was to press F6 to install SATA drivers! On doing so it recognised my HD and allowed me to use the recovery option.

    Instead of installing a new copy of Win XP onto my new HD I opted to install Win XP over my existing XP on my original HD hoping that I could keep everything intact.

    Although this worked, I was getting loads of errors as my HD drive letter was not the original letter (F:) prior to this whole episode. However, windows would not alow me to change the drive letter until I went through the process found here:

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223188

    I then rebooted but again the boot process stalled at the Win XP screen. So I re-installed my new Win XP copy again and hey presto all back to normal.

    Now, although this is still on my original HD and Ive still got my new 320GB HD which I bought to copy over everything from my original HD and the process which started this whole mess! I decided, a couple of hours later, to try again what I originally wanted to do!! Only this time round it went without a hitch and Im now running off my new HD.

    When I loaded up my new Win XP software (I bought another copy as my recovery CD supplied by the PC manufactuer was not allowing me to go into the recovery option) it was giving a message to the effect that my Win XP was not genuine (it certainly is - bought from Amazon) however, when I went online to register it it allowed me to get past the user log in screen.

    I have spent hours trying to resolve this and without the help of those on this forum I would not have had a clue. How on earth were problems resolved before the internet?

    So again thanks to all, especially KOlo, that responded.
     
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